The Plugless system from Evatran uses inductive technology to transfer power wirelessly. When the Parking Pad on the ground aligns with the Vehicle Adaptor (installed on the vehicle’s undercarriage) the system awakens and automatically transfers energy across an air gap at power level consistent with those of a Level 2 charger. (Source: Evatran)

How many cars could be charged at an EV lane at a light, and how would the billing for the energy delivered be handled? And how in the world would thie sysmptom of the driver asleep at the light be solved? Plus, who would pay for that huge amount of infrastructure? While some things might impress the emotions as "good ideas" the secondary implications indicate otherwise. All ideas need to be consided more carefully in order to avoid unhappy unintended consequences.

Possibly the subject is boring, but it would be quite an accomplishment if somebody did come up with a much more efficient wireless charging system. Say, at least 95% of the input power sent to the battery charger.

But now I have a different idea, which is that since the big problem is the inconvenience of plugging in that monster connector, how about a simple direct contact connection? Use the front bumper as the charging power connector: split the two bumper halves with an insulator and then have a spring loaded post in front of each side, far apart enough o make touching both unlikely. After contact is made then the system does an "electronic handshake" to verify that it is a car needing charging that is present, then switch on the power. At the end of the charge the car tells the controller that charging is done, and the power switches off. Of course there would be exposed electrical contacts, but only the stupidest 10% would electrocute themselves, the rest would know to stay away from live circuits. There would be no engineering breakthrough needed, only an adjustment to the laws so that stupidity would not be rewarded. And the connection efficiency would certainly be better than 98%. And it would be simpler and cheaper than a magnetic syst6em.

The big question is will it be accepted to waste 20% of the 20 KWH or so that is to be recharged into the battery? And who will make that decision? And if they can mandate improved efficiency for those little wall-warts then why not for the big car charging packages? My belief is that those making the laws are far separated from reality and understanding and that they don't see any problem with misleaing presentations.

This "new" invention comes out every few months. Got to swat this thing out of existence. Let's repeat this again: No! No! No! Is that clear. The original GM EV1 had a non-contact charge paddle. Even that was only about 80% efficiency. It was horrible. The entire purpose of electric vehicle is efficiency. Here you are loosing at least a third before even getting to the car. WHY? This does not make sense. Don't even start down this road. Unfortunately, you got people who are dazzled by another "new" technology.

If the government believes that they are right in mandating efficiency increases in those very small "wall-wart" devices then I certainly hope that the same sort of rules wind up being made to apply to the wireless charging systems, which are terribly inefficient. But it seems that the glamerous thing gets away with whatever it wishes to do.

And still there does not seem to be much discussion on the potential bad effects delivered by that energy radiated that does not make it into the targeted battery system.

Once again, truth is missing.

And if an individual is so very inconvenienced by plugging in to charge, then my evaluation is that probably they don't even deserve to drive any car.

AND here is another concern not previously discussed, which is that if charging commences whenever the vehicle would be parked it will only be a few hours before some much less honorable individuals establish some very expensive charging points, and rob the poor unsuspecting drivers with very high charging fees. And how will a driver know what they are being charged until the bill arrives. So there you have the ultimate fault of wireless charging systems. So those "dirty" fossile fuels will be replaced by the chance to be robbed every time one parks their vehicle. Not quite a fair trade, I don't believe. But definitely a potential consequence of what the unthinking believe to be a good idea.

This is where the technology needs to go. If charging is ubiquitously everywhere, electric cars will predominate for most transportation needs that are not continuous duration, long haul. People are just stuck in the paradigm that they have to go to a gas station to fill up their fuel. If every time they parked their car began to charge wirelessly, it would destroy the paradigm the dirty fossil fuels industry relies on to convince shallow thinkers that combustion engines are the best most cost effective technology. I find people in America still believe the price of a gallon of gas is what they pay at the pump; they never consider the costs hidden in the military being used to defend the fossil fuels industry, as well as that hidden in the dangerous environmental effects fossil fuel use is demonstrably having on the environment. As usual some fools are happy with the fossil fuels industry privatizing their profits and and socializing their costs.

e-007, the belief that there is no need to understand anything does not make me laugh, but rather feel like the clowns are running the asylum, or worse. It is a quite uncomfortable feeling that I am not respected at all for my engineering knowledge and talents, while some punk who dresses to the latest fad gets all of the aclaim, and a lot more income, which really offends me, by the way.

Right now I am seeing problems brought on by others ignoring my requests to do things differently than they had in the past. I would like to tell them "I TOLD you so", but the problems are here and real and that would not do any good. Of course, I did not press the issue back then because after being told I didn't know what I was talking about so many times I developed an attitude that I would let them "put thier hands in the fire."

Very True William K our schools today cater to the average idiot not to the average genius. Too easy is making a lot of people believe that knowing very little is ok. In reality it leads to poverty and many other things including one paying more than 10 dollars for a system that links the grid to your car??? I mean really a wire can do the job and a plug why bother with electronics that you don't understand how they work???? Tech like this makes me laugh most of the time.

Some cars are more reliable than others, but even the vehicles at the bottom of this year’s Consumer Reports reliability survey are vastly better than those of 20 years ago in the key areas of powertrain and hardware, experts said this week.

As it does every year, Consumers Union recently surveyed its members on the reliability of their vehicles. This year, it collected data on approximately 1.1 million cars and trucks, categorizing the members’ likes and dislikes, not only of their vehicles, but of the vehicle sub-systems, as well.

A few weeks ago, Ford Motor Co. quietly announced that it was rolling out a new wrinkle to the powerful safety feature called stability control, adding even more lifesaving potential to a technology that has already been very successful.

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